NEWS

In Brief

EARLY ELECTIONS

Most voters want government to fulfill its four-year term in office Six in 10 Greeks do not want early elections and believe the government should see out its full four-year term in office, according to the second part of an opinion poll made public yesterday. The survey by VPRC suggested that 59 percent of voters back Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis’s apparent determination not to go to the polls early, while 36 percent said they wanted elections before the four-year term is up in March 2008. JAILBREAK Three men recaptured after escape Police recaptured yesterday three men that escaped from a holding cell in Maroussi, northern Athens. Police said the three men, including a suspect detained for an attempted homicide, were caught within hours of the escape after authorities cordoned off the area. Two of the detainees were Albanian nationals, while the third was a Roma. Sources said the men are not expected to face charges for the escape attempt since they were quickly located. Public Order Ministry officials have ordered an investigation into the incident to determine the causes behind the escape. Armed robbery Two armed men held up a branch of Eurobank in Thessaloniki’s Kalamaria area yesterday and made away with about -30,000, police said. Just over -13,000 was taken from the bank, while another -17,000 was stolen from a customer who was depositing the money into his account. Police have launched a manhunt for the two assailants who fled the scene by motorbike. Pedestrian critical A 29-year-old woman was in critical condition in a Thessaloniki hospital last night after being hit by a bus in the city center in the early hours of the morning. The private bus hit five parked cars before running over the unnamed woman who was walking on the side of the road. It was not immediately clear what caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle. Ecologists in action Four workers at two quarries in Veria, northern Greece, were arrested yesterday after ecologists notified the police that the area was being mined illegally. Eight members of a local ecological group burst into the quarry and seized the machinery to stop the mining. The campaigners claimed that a firm had been mining in the area without a license for the last four months and had illegally been using explosives. Food seized The Athens Prefecture said yesterday that its health and hygiene inspectors had seized more than 2 tons of unsuitable food during inspections on producers and distributors over the last month. The prefecture will be suing 27 companies or individuals as a result of its findings.

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